


Interlude I

by King_Queen_and_Ace



Series: Life on the Murder Scene [2]
Category: Cobra Starship, Panic! at the Disco, The Academy Is...
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Angst, Forensics, M/M, Pining, Ryan being a lil cutie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 13:31:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18223790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/King_Queen_and_Ace/pseuds/King_Queen_and_Ace
Summary: The after effects of Maggie.Set a few weeks after Snakes in Stomachs and the Meaning of Manubrium and before The Bleeding Car





	Interlude I

William leaned on his hand as he sat listening to Gabe animatedly talk, observing the lighter flecks of brown in Gabe’s eyes and the way he used his hands to express himself, nearly knocking over Tyler’s little cactus on the common room table.

He wasn’t actually quite sure when it happened. (Or how, but that was another matter entirely.)

All he was sure of was that he had discovered it that fateful day on the roof, a couple weeks ago. (The day of the snake incident that Ray was intent on forgetting.)

William had gone home that day, distracted by the memory of his fluttering heart -throughout his journey in his car blasting music, and then through his evening routine whilst sipping tea, and even lying awake at 3am. His thoughts rested upon the literal six year old known as Gabe Saporta. The cause for the little palpitations in his heart.

There was no possible way _,_ he thought, I could have _romantic_ feelings for him. And yet here they were. Gabe was excitedly talking about some rare moth’s faeces, and William was staring at him like a love-struck fool. Which he totally wasn’t (in love, he meant). It was just a crush. (That made his heart clench every time he saw the other man but no one needed to know that.)

Gabe snapped his fingers in William’s face. “Are you alright Bilvy?” He asked, concerned. William shook his head, clearing his thoughts, “Yeah I’m fine; I just didn’t get much sleep last night.” He said a little sheepishly.

“I was too busy thinking about your goddamn smile.” Was what some small part of him wanted to say.

“Aw no Bilvy, I’m sorry.” Gabe said immediately, worry twisting his features. William shrugged and patted him on the back, “S’okay. It’s not your fault.” Gabe bit his lip, “Still I worry; you don’t seem to have slept much at all these past few weeks.” William gave him a gentle smile, “I’ll be fine.”

He tried to ignore his heart racing as Gabe stared into his eyes deeply. The fluttering had turned into skipping and then into racing since the snake incident. It was becoming almost unbearable now, and William wondered if one day he’d just drop dead from one look from Gabe. That would be an amusing post-mortem –“Cause of death?”

“Gabe Saporta looked at him”. He grinned to himself as Gabe shot him a questioning glance. He tried to wrestle it under control as Gabe continued to stare at him.

Without warning, Ray rushed in, “Hey, a body was discovered in the river, Ryan wants you at the scene Gabe.”

“Hm? Yeah sure I’ll be right there.” His eyes didn’t leave William’s until the very last second when he left the room, making him feel hot.

William kicked the trashcan in frustration before exiting as well.

* * *

Gabe was worried.

William hadn’t been acting the same ever since Maggie – he wasn’t sleeping, he seemed to drift out of focus a lot, and worst of all? Gabe’s conversations with him had become kind of awkward. Stunted. Almost uncomfortable at times. Even _Ryan_ had noticed – “Did you two get into a fight?”.

He sighed, pulling on his gear and joining Ryan at the side of the river, cordoned off from the public. “So what do we got?” He asked heavily, crouching down next to the body wrapped in plastic sheeting.

Ryan gave him a strange look before starting, “Male, around 28 years old. A family saw him floating down the river while they were walking around this area.” He pointed towards a stricken looking family of four, the mother clasping the two kids in her arms tightly. Gabe nodded beginning to slowly lift off the plastic.

“Hey bug-boy, why the long face? I thought you loved this kind of thing?” Gabe turned his body slightly to see Brendon Urie bounding up from behind them.

Ryan frowned about to chastise him, but Gabe answered before he could open his mouth, “I do. It’s just…” He turned to Ryan. “Do you think I’ve done something wrong?” Ryan tilted his head, eyebrow raised, but Gabe quickly intercepted him, “With William I mean?”

Brendon’s mouth twitched and Ryan turned to Brendon widening his eyes and jutting his chin out toward Gabe. Brendon shrugged and muttered, “Go for it man. What harm could you do?”

Gabe waited a little impatiently as Ryan collected his thoughts. “Well,” he started of hesitantly, “I’m not exactly the best person to ask this, I think.” Brendon snorted at that. “But it seems to me that perhaps you’ve done something to offend him.” Gabe considered that, “But then why isn’t he sleeping?”

“Maybe he found a sexual partner?” Ryan said casually. Brendon and Gabe choked. Ryan frowned, “What?” Brendon shook his head, smirking as Gabe looked distraught.

Ryan shrugged and rolled his eyes, “Well we don’t get much free time and we work long hours during the day so…” Brendon snickered, “Logical conclusion, Ryan.”

 Ryan crossed his arms defensively, “Can we just get back to the murder investigation?”

 

Gabe still looked distressed however, so Ryan placed his hand on the taller man’s arm, “Hey,” he said in a softer voice, looking Gabe deep in the eye, “I’m sure it’s fine. He could just be tired in general – he hasn’t been talking as much with the rest of us either.”

Gabe nodded, and turned his attention to the remains. Ryan worried at his lip, observing Gabe for a little longer, before mouthing at Brendon, “Did I do okay?”

Brendon smiled softly at him from behind Gabe, nodding, “You did great. I’m proud.” Ryan grinned at himself, pleased.

Gabe peeled back some of the plastic, ignoring Ryan and Brendon conversing in the background, taking stock of the species of insects on the corpse’s rotting body. His mind was elsewhere, though, thinking about William, his arm around some girl, laughing and flirting. He clenched his fist, attempting to focus on his task, but couldn’t push the image away, as his stomach tied itself into a not.

* * *

When Gabe returned to the Wentz a couple hours later, he met William’s eyes across the room, where he was standing next to Tyler. The two paused, and the world seemed to zero onto the pair for a moment. But then William dropped his gaze and the spell was broken. William turned to talk to Tyler, and Gabe kept moving forward to his office. Neither looked back. Something between them had changed, and neither knew how to fix it.

**Author's Note:**

> So I know I haven't posted in ages, and that's because I'm still working on the sequel to Snakes, so sorry about that. Unfortunately, I won't be able to post for ages (like until July) because I will be having my gcses, and I want to focus on that. Fingers crossed though, after that I will have a whole long ass summer to write in (3 months of freedom), so the series should progress a lot then. In the meantime, have this.


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